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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23192977">Fractured glass</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMidnightMoonChild/pseuds/TheMidnightMoonChild'>TheMidnightMoonChild</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Inside Riverdale [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Riverdale (TV 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dark Past, Dark Theme, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gang Violence, Jughead Jones in Love, Mentioned Southside Serpents Gang, Original Character(s), Protective Jughead Jones, Protective Sweet Pea (Riverdale), Sexual Tension, Southside Serpent Jughead Jones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:27:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,217</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23192977</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMidnightMoonChild/pseuds/TheMidnightMoonChild</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
      <p>Fractured glass is set in the same universe as my other story’s  ‘damsel in distress’ and ‘the last snake dance’, so spoilers if you haven’t read them yet.</p><p> </p><p>All characters are portrayed as 18+</p>
    </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alice Cooper/FP Jones II, Jughead Jones/Original Character(s), Jughead Jones/Original Female Character(s), Sweet Pea (Riverdale)/Original Character(s), Sweet Pea (Riverdale)/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Inside Riverdale [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1732675</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Fractured glass is set in the same universe as my other story’s  ‘damsel in distress’ and ‘the last snake dance’, so spoilers if you haven’t read them yet.</p><p> </p><p>All characters are portrayed as 18+</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong> Somewhere unknown...</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>"So, who sent you those messages?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Archie drove through the streets towards the location the coordinates showed. Quick, steady, focused. Archie was a better driver, Jughead hated to admit. He leaned sulking in the passenger's seat, somewhere between fear and nail-biting-nervous. He had always been told to take control of the situation; to be the man whatever it took. He would do anything and everything for the serpents ; even more for Lydia.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"An anonymous sender," he mumbled looking out of the window in order to distract himself from the nervous twitches in his feet. The directions were leading them to a abandoned warehouse in an industrial zone where some years earlier had been raided by police. Helluva nice place to hold someone hostage. They decided to park around the corner and go by foot, not letting anyone know they had arrived just yet.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"It seems deserted," Jughead observed as he got out of the car, looking from a safe distance. Several abandoned buildings waited hopelessly for someone to start over. The last rays of the setting sun submerged them in a orange-red light, it almost seemed romantic. Irony , right? He  turned back to Archie and frowned. "Thanks for taking me this far, but maybe you would be better waiting in the car in case this goes sideways..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I admit it. I'm more used to secluded areas full of bloodthirsty ex-girlfriends, than the gang life Jug, but honestly? I couldn’t let you do it alone" Archie said smirking slightly. Jughead huffed out a laugh. Keeping a sense of humor in desperate situations was good. It was something that reminded them they were still alive. Or dead men walking, but still laughing their asses off.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jughead was about to reply the plan when he spotted anther car driving around the corner. The car came at such a speed neither of them had time to move, before it came to a sudden holt. The smell of burnt rubber spread through the street.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Archie, go !" He pushed Archie into the alley to take cover from whatever was about to come. The wheels screeched loudly as it came to a stop. The engine was cut and the door on the driver's side kicked open. Two long legs appeared, dragging along a young man wearing a dark leather jacket and a bratty grin.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Sweet pea? What the hell are you doing here?" Jughead frowned crossing his arms.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Is this the way you welcome an old friend, Jones?" He smirked.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Archie grimaced at his appearance. Sweet pea had scratches on his head, two black eyes, and a burst lip. Archie also couldn’t miss the dried blood on his knuckles.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Don't get us wrong," Jughead said walking towards the car. "It's just that we were trying not to draw attention to ourselves." He looked around to see if anyone noticed. "Thanks for that."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"How was I supposed to know? I'm just here to help." Sweet pea huffed, challenging him. His eyes darted angrily to Archie, who was approaching them slowly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"To help? With what?!" Archie asked in a serious tone, as he stood next to Jughead without saying a word. Even years after their legendary encounter with Archie pulling a gun long behind them, none of them would put their guard down.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Help to get Lydia back." Sweet pea glanced sarcastically at Jughead as he leaned against his car. “Don’t look so surprised red, Jones helped look after my girl when I couldn’t.. so I’m returning the favor. FP sent me, Fangs will also be on hand to help. What is this, by the way?" Sweet pea pointed a finger over his shoulder at the warehouse.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jughead scowled and turned to face the warehouse where they had been summoned.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Hopefully, the place all this ends."<em></em></em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Jugheads trailer</strong>
</p>
<p>Lydia gripped the slick side of the tub praying that she wouldn't slip as Jughead pounded her from behind. The way he was slamming deep into her, Lydia was sure she would be feeling it for days, but couldn't care less. It felt too good to worry about such stupid things.</p>
<p>The day had begun like any other. She woke up and got ready for work, then Jughead invited her over for breakfast. She had only been in his trailer five minutes before she somehow found herself in the shower with him.</p>
<p>"Did you miss me?" She heard him ask before he placed a kiss on her shoulder blade.</p>
<p>"Hmm," was all she could whine, feeling him lightly bite at her skin. He gyrated her hips back to meet his frantic thrusts.</p>
<p>"I missed you too and I can honestly say…" He paused to squeeze her ass. "I'm glad to be home." He wasn’t lying, he had left town for serpent business, and he genuinely missed her.</p>
<p>He felt Lydia’s legs shaking as her orgasm became inevitable. Her walls clenched around his cock as her own release built. The knot in her stomach was pulled tighter and tighter until she couldn’t take anymore. "Jughead!" She screamed as he continued slamming into her.</p>
<p>He pounded out in her a few more times before he pulled out and came on her backside, leaning forward he kissed the back of her neck. “Now let's get clean for real."</p><h1>________</h1>
<p>Jughead sat smiling as he watched Lydia scoff down her breakfast, she was the only female he knew who had an appetite like his. It was one of the reasons he enjoyed spending the few mornings he could work her.</p>
<p>Toni and sweet pea had picked up the habit of teasing Jughead for his taste in women in the past few years. Betty was his first love, the seemingly sweet girl next door who had a hidden dark side, unfortunately for Jughead it turned out she really did have another side when she cheated on him. He had dated a few girls but none of them jelled with him the way he wanted. Any relationship he had ended after a few months, the trust issues he now had from cheated on didn’t help.</p>
<p>Lydia was different from the others. She didn’t have any darkness hidden, she just was who she was. Sure, they didn’t know everything about each other yet, but that was okay. The only real problem was, Lydia didn’t want a relationship. Jughead had asked her a few times to be exclusive, but she always just said <em>“I can’t right now.”</em> He didn’t understand it, but he respected her decision enough to push it. Recently though, he was beginning to wonder if they would be anything more than friends with benefits.</p>
<p>“So you got any plans for the rest of the day?” Lydia asked in between bites of her food.</p>
<p>“Jellybean talked me into ‘helping’ her do a school project.” Jughead said rolling his eyes.</p>
<p>Lydia smiled. “That’s kind of you” she thought it was sweet the way Jughead spoke about his sister.</p>
<p>“Yeah yeah,” he rolled his eyes “she always asked for help then I end up doing the whole thing, otherwise she will just nag at me if I don’t.” He explained while gesturing for Lydia to pass him her used plate.</p>
<p>He washed, she dried. They stood in a comfortable silence until Jughead broke it. “Speaking of nagging, my dad and sister have been on my case about meeting the girl who I’ve been spending time with.” He glanced to his side to see the brunette smiling at him.</p>
<p>Lydia leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips, before a beeping noise caught her attention. A frown quickly replaced her smile, as she stared down at her phone. Lydia practically ran out his door. “Sorry, Jughead but I really need to leave for work.”</p>
<p>After she quickly left he was left confused, he didn’t understand what had just happened. Did he do something wrong mentioning his dad and sister wanted to meet her? Of course, it was. They weren’t even a couple, and he’s thrown that out. But he couldn’t place the look on her face when she left, something was definitely wrong. </p>
<p>
  <strong> Lydia’s house</strong>
</p>
<p>Three days had passed and Jughead hadn’t heard anything from Lydia, he was now sitting outside Lydia’s house. Leaning back in the drivers seat he groaned to himself. He had two options: go knock on her door, or drive away. He didn’t want to seem creepy, but he wanted to make sure she was okay. He decided to go with his gut feeling, something was wrong. <em>Pull yourself together.</em> He took a deep breath, and headed towards the front door.</p>
<p>Walking up the driveway he couldn’t help but feel like a teenage boy about to ask his crush to dance. After knocking on her door, he took in his surrounding. He had dropped Lydia off at her house before but didn’t pay much attention to detail, because he was more focused on her. It was a small bungalow, it was dark, but he could see it was a well-kept small front garden. After waiting a few minutes he was about to leave when the door opened.</p>
<p>“Jughead?” A small voice said.</p>
<p>“Hey”, he said almost sounding shy himself.</p>
<p>“What are you doing here?” He noticed the way Lydia kept looking up and down the street.</p>
<p>“I didn’t mean to intrude, I was worried when I didn’t hear back and wanted to make sure everything was okay. Are you okay?” Taking in her appearance, she didn’t look okay. Her skin extremely pale and bags under her eyes, she looked exhausted. It was strange, it was roasting outside but her baggy jumper was pulled up, and was covering all her neck, and almost all the bottom half of her face.</p>
<p>“I broke my phone and haven’t had a chance to get a new one yet”, her eyes continued to dart up and down the street.</p>
<p>It was awkward. Jughead came to see her, but Lydia didn’t show an interested in inviting him inside. “Sorry I didn’t mean to intrude, I just thought something was wrong.”</p>
<p>“Jug i...”</p>
<p>Jughead froze in his step. When Lydia stepped further into his view he could see the forming bruise on her jaw line, and cut in her lip.</p>
<p>“What happened?” He demanded stepping towards her.</p>
<p>“This isn’t the time” she said in a soft voice, stepping closer to him. “I promise I’ll come by and explain once I’ve sorted a few things, if that's alright?.. Jug?”</p>
<p>Jughead had stopped listening, he was more focused on the small child leaning against the doorway.</p>
<p>“Who’s this mummy?” A child said from behind her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Lydia’s house</strong>
</p>
<p>Lydia quickly turned and took the young girls hand in hers. “This is mummy’s friend Jughead. Jug this is my daughter Sophia.” She said with a weak smile, Lydia knew that it would be a shock for him since she had never mentioned kids before. She cleared her throat, “do you want to come in jug?”</p>
<p>He couldn’t speak, but nodded before following her inside.</p>
<p>“I’ll be one minute” she said before taking the young girl through to what he assumed was her bedroom. Inside, Lydia’s living-room looked almost perfect except for the three suitcases packed tightly by her door. She didn't have a lot she wanted to bring with her and it was too soon for all the bulky winter clothes. Most things were going to be left behind in Greendale.</p>
<p>“Going somewhere?” Jughead asked when she entered the room. She sighed sitting down next to him.</p>
<p>“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know how serious you wanted things to be between us.” Lydia said biting at her bottom lip.</p>
<p>“I asked you multiple times to be my girlfriend.” Jughead answered, while trying to keep his annoyance out his voice. He wanted to try to understand why she hid this from him, he was pissed but didn’t want to show it.</p>
<p>“I know, but I can’t just casually date like I’m in high school with a child.. also, I need to be careful who I let near my daughter.”</p>
<p>Ouch. “Is this because I’m a serpent? You saw the drama that follows, So you don’t want a gang member around?” He asked defensively “I’d never doing anything to hurt you...you know that right?” Truthfully Jughead would have understood, growing up he wished he wasn’t around the serpents.</p>
<p>“No!” Lydia said a little loud, “it had nothing to do with you. <em>Shit</em>. I didn’t mean it like that.. It’s just things are complicated and I can’t drag anyone into who isn’t fully committed.”</p>
<p>Jughead had begun pacing back and forth. His mind was boggled, he was confused. “How can anyone prove they are committed when you don’t give them a chance?”</p>
<p>Tears began to form in her eyes. She crossed her leg, and buried her face in her sleeve. “I know...just everything is so confusing I don’t know where to even start.”</p>
<p>He looked at her sympathetically, sitting down next to her he gently moved her hands away. “How about from the moment you ran out my trailer.</p>
<p>Lydia nodded while wiping her eyes. “I’d got a text from one of my friends saying she had seen my ex in town, so I just panicked and ran home to pack our bags” she sighed, “but he turned up before I had a chance to pick her up from nursery. He came in yelling, and when I threatened to phone the police he smashed my phone by bouncing it off my face” she said staring at the ground. “I did really want to see you but.. I was worried he would follow me, and I didn’t want to just to turn up with bruised, with a child you had never heard about in my arms” she explained.</p>
<p>Jughead leaned forward and kissed her forehead, and pulled her in for a hug. He could feel is anger radiating through his body, but he decided it was best he didn’t open his mouth.</p>
<p>“I didn’t want to keep anything from you, I just wanted to keep Sophia safe.” Lydia said between sniffs. Jughead had so many questions but decided tonight wasn’t the night to ask.</p><h1>________</h1>
<p>Jughead woke with sunshine in his eyes, he vaguely remembered falling asleep on Lydia’s couch as he fully woke up. As he sat up, he turned around to face the small kitchen area to see Lydia cooking something, and the small dark haired girl coloring in.</p>
<p>“Hungry jug?” She asked already knowing he would be.</p>
<p>“Always.” He said standing up stretching. He saw Lydia place down the pancakes, then watched as Sophia practically drown hers in syrup, before sticking his tongue out at her when the young girl noticed him. She giggled before continuing to eat. He had never really liked kids apart from his sister, the rest of them just seemed sticky and messy. Sophia seemed semi normal for a child, it was funny she looked scarily like her mother except Lydia had dark blonde hair, while her daughter had raven hair. Both of them were pale skinned, with emerald green eyes.</p>
<p>After breakfast, while Sophia was playing in another room they talked about Lydia’s ex and how he was an obsessed control freak who needed to know where she was all the time. “So that’s how I ended up Riverdale. The moving around will just get harder as she gets older, that’s why I was hoping he would have backed off, so she could settle.”</p>
<p>Jughead only nodded. It sounded like Lydia had been through years of hell, running all the time must have been exhausting. “There is always loads of work for me between Greendale and Riverdale. So hopefully if he backs off, we can stick around” she continued.</p>
<p>“I hope you can too, but promise me if you need to run off somewhere in the middle of the night you will tell me?” Jughead said in a joking tone, even though he was serious.</p>
<p>Lydia smiled before kissing him. “So all this new information not scaring you off means you still want to be my boyfriend?”</p>
<p>“Long as you’ll have me?” He answered grinning. Lydia nodded and pulled him in for a kiss, they would find a way to make it work.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>
  <em></em><br/>   “So Jughead and that girl Lydia are now a happy couple? How long will that last?”<br/>  
</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong> Pops diner</strong>
</p>
<p>“So Jughead and that girl Lydia are now a happy couple? How long will that last?” Veronica said screwing her face up.</p>
<p>Betty sighed rolling her eyes, she had come back to Riverdale to meet up with her old friends. A tradition they had kept since going there separate ways. Every year they would all meet up. Veronica had moved to New York and got a degree in fashion. Archie had been traveling for a couple of years, with plans on returning and being coach at Riverdale high school, and playing with his band in between. Betty lived with her boyfriend in Seattle, and worked as a writer for the local paper.</p>
<p>They would meet up on the Saturday for dinner at pops like they done as teenagers, except they would go out drinking at night now. They would swap stories from the past few years, and talk about the future. Archie and Veronica would always hook up, while more recently Betty and Jughead shared awkward small talk. However, all three of them were pissed when he texted Archie to say he was late, and wouldn’t be able to stay long.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I’ve heard she’s nice” was all Betty said, Kevin has filled her in on this information, so she wouldn’t be shocked. Not that she cared, they had both moved on.</p>
<p>The diner bell rang, and they turned to see Jughead enter. He greeted them all before sitting next to Archie. “Hey man” he grinned. He truly missed Archie, he would be glad when he returned to Riverdale for good. After everything that had happened between the two young men over the years they had still managed to be good friends, even though things had been rocky at times.</p>
<p>They listened to Archie tell them him about his visit to Australia. Jughead tried his best to listen to him, but he didn’t miss the glances Veronica kept giving him, and how she was looking at her phone a lot.</p>
<p>“So how come you can’t stay so long?” Betty asked, changing the subject. Archie talking about the best topless beaches this early on was a little too much.</p>
<p>“This is the first weekend my dad has off work, and Jellybean isn’t running away to a friends house, so we are having a family meal. He needs to me to help him out with stuff at the bar first.” That was a lie. He didn’t need to help at the bar, but would need a full morning to bribe his sister into not embarrassing him.</p>
<p>“And... is Lydia going?” Archie asked teasingly, with a wide grin on his face.</p>
<p>“Yeah she will be there.” Jughead smiled, he and Lydia had been official for a few months now, and he couldn’t be happier. However, he didn’t really want to talk about her too much in present company.</p>
<p>“Come on Jug, tell us about her. How did you meet? What does she do for a living?” Betty asked smiling sincerely. She was happy for her ex, and wanted what was best for him.</p>
<p>“Erm” Jughead shifted uncomfortably, as Betty and Archie laughed. He was still as socially awkward as ever. “Lydia is a social worker, I meet her when I was picking up Jellybean from school.” He said between fries.</p>
<p>“Was she picking her kid up at the same time?” Veronica asked with a sarcastic smile.</p>
<p>“No. She was there for work. Something else you want to say?” He frowned. He and Veronica had being going head to head for years.</p>
<p>“Just find it funny a teenage mum from a gang, without a degree is good enough for you, but I wasn’t good enough for Archie?” She hissed.</p>
<p>“That wasn’t what I said. I told Archie it was unfair you kept dicking him around, which I still stand by. Also, Lydia’s never even been in a gang and you need a degree to be a social worker.” He stated unimpressed. For days, he had moaned this was a bad idea, he had a gut feeling it wouldn’t go well.</p>
<p>“Really? What’s the tacky tattoos for then?” Veronica asked sipping on her milkshake.</p>
<p>“That’s enough Ronnie.” Archie said trying to lower the tension. He knew he should never have told her what Jughead said, that girl knew how to hold a grudge.</p>
<p>Standing up, Jughead scoffed. He didn’t need to listen to this. Lydia was a kind person, while Veronica was a stuck up rich girl who got everything handed to her, who still hadn’t dropped the mean school girl act since leaving high school.</p>
<p>“It was nice seeing you Betty, I hope everything works out with the writing. Archie I’ll text you later.” He said before walking away. He shook his head hearing Betty and Archie both scold Veronica for her uncalled-for comments.</p>
<p>Pulling out his phone he texted Nell to see if she was around, he needed someone to vent to someone who didn’t really know them. Plus, he didn’t want Lydia to hear them sorts of comments. He just hoped the family dinner would go better. </p>
<p>
  <strong>Jones household</strong>
</p>
<p>“You look fine”, Jughead chuckled. The full car drive to FP’s house Lydia had sat fidgeting with her outfit, she was wearing a light yellow sundress and a denim jacket. She wanted to impress the Joan’s family, although she would never admit it to him, he would definitely tease her for it.</p>
<p>“We’re here!” Jughead shouted once he had opened the door. They were greeted by Jellybean who gave him a hug before introducing herself to Lydia, before leading them to the dinning room. His father had ordered pizza after burning dinner, and had a selection of different fizzy drinks on offer as well.</p>
<p>At first things were slightly awkward, as Lydia’s nervousness was showing. His dad also seemed nervous as well, he had never meet any of Jughead girlfriends apart from Betty.</p><h1>______</h1>
<p>An hour later the room was filled with laughter “Please, you don’t need to keep calling me Mr Jones” FP laughed. The meal had gone well, and he enjoyed meeting his son’s new girlfriend. She was polite, funny, and had a decent job. The fact she had a kid didn’t hurt either, it meant she was grown up for her age instead of being young and reckless. It wasn’t long before she won over Jellybean either.</p>
<p>In the kitchen FP and Jughead stood washing and drying dishes. Lydia had offered to help him with the cleanup a few times, but FP declined every time.</p>
<p>In the living room Jellybean was pointing and asking Lydia about her tattoos. “The one on my forearm is a snake with roses wrapped around it, the one on the back of my elbow on my other arm is my baby’s birthday.” She said smiling.</p>
<p>Jellybean was about to say something else when her smile faded, she was looking past Lydia into the kitchen.</p>
<p> “Come here pumpkin, give me a hug!” A female voice shouted from the kitchen.</p>
<p>“What are you doing her?” They could hear Jughead ask in a flat tone.</p>
<p>“What? Can’t a mother come and visit her son? Especially when his girlfriend is round for a family meal. Where is she anyway?” The women who turned out to be his mother asked.</p>
<p>Jughead quickly walked in the living room, carrying Lydia’s bag and jacket. “I think it’s time we go?” he said putting on a false smile, probably for his sisters benefit. They could all hear FP and their mum bickering in the kitchen.</p>
<p>“Jughead!” a voice boomed through the room, “planning on leaving soon?”</p>
<p>“Yeah Lydia’s babysitter needs to leave so...” He was never able to lie in front of his sister, he found it difficult.</p>
<p><em><strong>“You?”</strong></em> Jughead’s mom stepped forward. “You're the one my son has been dating?” Gladys asked horrified when she finally saw Lydia’s face.</p>
<p>“You two know each other?” FP asked confused. His ex-wife looked furious, while his son’s girlfriend had turned chalk white. The same horrified look most people had after meeting Gladys.</p>
<p>“This is the girl who got the kids I was looking after split up. I gave them children a home, then you took that away from them.” Gladys spat.</p>
<p>“Go upstairs” FP said calmly to his daughter, last thing he wanted was for her to see an argument break out.</p>
<p>Gladys stepped closer to Lydia, trying to intimidate her. “Does it feel good knowing all them kids are split up now? How do you sleep at night.”</p>
<p>“I sleep better at night knowing that I got five children under the age of eighteen off the streets, who were sealing drugs for you into good loving homes.” Lydia said smiling sweetly. “Thank you again for dinner Mr Jones, but I really need to be leaving now.”</p>
<p>Both Jones men stared at each other gobsmacked, this wasn’t good. Jughead followed Lydia outside, while his dad stood glaring at Gladys.

 “I didn’t know she would be here” Jughead said staring at the ground.</p>
<p>“Jug, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know who your mother was otherwise I wouldn’t have come round, and me saying that in front of you and your father wasn’t cool, I’m sorry.” Lydia felt ashamed. She wanted to impress his family, not cause arguments.</p>
<p>They could her Gladys voice getting louder from inside the house. Jughead looked at his watch, it was only six pm. “How much longer do you have a sitter for?”</p>
<p>“Toni said just to pick her up when we are done, how come?” Lydia asked noticing the look on Jughead’s face. He never said anything but went back into his dads house, coming back out a few moments later with his sister who was now grinning.</p>
<p>“How does a child friendly movie sound?” He asked, hurrying Jellybean down the driveway.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Lydia’s house</strong>
</p>
<p>There’s something different about Lydia.</p>
<p>Her laugh is the same, same smile. Her jokes, her humor, her everything else seemed to be the same as it’s always been, but there’s something Jughead couldn’t figure out. It’s a minor difference, really. Something’s missing, and it’s frustrating to no end that he can’t figure it out.</p>
<p>He stared at his girlfriend, she was sitting on the ground outside playing with her daughter. She had brought Sophia’s dollhouse into the front garden, they were both laughing and giggling.</p>
<p>He sighed watching them, so many things in his life had changed from a few years ago, seeing his old ‘friends’ made him see that. He had escaped the petty serpent king drama a long time ago, it was hard but it just wasn’t for him. Jughead struggled with a lot of the shit he had done over the years, pretending to be dead, the Penny incident, gargoyle and griffins fiasco, accidentally dragging Nell into dangers way. Now looking at where it had gotten him, selfish as it was he wouldn’t take any of it back.</p>
<p>“Are you okay jug?” he had been so lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed Lydia walked up beside him.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I’m fine” he said before kissing her hand. He would never get tired of looking at her sweet smile, “What is Sophie doing now?” He asked curious. The young girl had been giving her dolls ‘haircuts’, she would no doubt need to get new ones after today.</p>
<p>“Rather them than me.” Lydia smiled, “you alright watching her while I nip to the bathroom?”</p>
<p>“I think we’ll survive” he scoffed laughing, he sat watching the young girl playing until Lydia came back. “What’s wrong?” He asked soon as he saw the look on her face.</p>
<p>“It’s nothing” she said shaking her head, “I’ve been asked to go into work.” Lydia shrugged. Being a Saturday, the overtime would be great for her.</p>
<p>“I’ll watch her if you want? I have some writing to do, I can take her to my trailer” he suggested. Jughead didn’t mind watching her daughter, he’s had plenty of practice with Jellybean over the years. He could see Lydia was thinking about it. “You always want extra hours, and I promise everything will be fine.”</p>
<p>“Okay...” Lydia agreed. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her boyfriend, she just didn’t trust her daughter to behave herself. Sophia had a tendency to throw tantrums when she wasn’t around. “Only if you let me cook dinner tomorrow night? And you text me at lest once an hour to let me know how she is.”</p>
<p>
  <strong>Jughead’s trailer</strong>
</p>
<p>“Ohh shit.” Jughead mumbled under his breath, he had just got off the phone from Lydia, she had just finished work and was picking up pizza for them on the way back as a way of saying thankful. Which would have been fine, except Betty and Veronica were now walking up to his trailer.</p>
<p>He had two options. Answer the door and need to deal with whatever drama they were bringing with them, or just pretend not to be in. He was going to go with the latter, and just tell Sophia it was some kind of game, and they couldn’t make any noise, his mind was made up when Toni came out of Nell’s trailer. He gulped down before slowly backing away from the window.</p>
<p>Turning he smiled at Sophia who was happily coloring, he turned up the volume on the TV. He didn’t want the young girl hearing the argument that would probably happen in a few seconds. He knew how fiery Veronica and Toni could both be at times, he knew how this would play out. Nell would get overprotective of Toni, then sweet pea would appear and defend Nell then everything would turn into a screaming match. He still had ringing in his ears from the last time a serpent got into an argument with Veronica, who seemed to be in town a lot more recently.</p>
<p>He waited for the yelling and shouting to come, but it never did. Jughead was about to look out the window again to see what was happening when he got a text from Nell saying she told them he was away for the weekend. He let out a sigh of relief, he was thankful that she had thought fast. Lydia hadn’t met many of his friends from high school, and he definitely didn’t want to start with Veronica and Betty.</p><h1>______</h1>
<p>“So why did they come her?” Lydia asked frowning. She wasn’t thrilled that Jughead’s ex had started poking around all of a sudden, she couldn’t help but feel slightly threatened.</p>
<p>“I don’t know” he shrugged, “they just appeared. I’m glad Nell thought fast, I’m not interested in any of it.”</p>
<p>“What if they wanted to apologize? Veronica was pretty horrible to you.” Lydia asked moving closer to him. They were speaking in low voices as they sat on the couch in his living room, Sophia was feeling tired so Jughead let her go to sleep on his bed.</p>
<p>He shook his head, he never told Lydia about all the raven haired girls comments, just that she was acting like a bitchy high schooler. He smiled softly, his girlfriend always did want to see the best in people, but there was no way in hell they had come to apologize. “No, they would have wanted something. I thought I had escaped all this drama.” Jughead sighed.</p>
<p>“Well the most drama you will get with us is Sophia’s tantrums if you move her toys again without permission.” Lydia laughed. Jughead was quickly learning that Sophia was a very outspoken and stubborn child, she made Jellybean seem like a walk in the park. He got lectured by the young girl for tidying her toys when she wasn’t looking.</p>
<p>“I wonder where she gets it from. Jughead said playfully, before pulling Lydia in for a kiss.</p>
<p>The brunette eventually pulled away from him. “it’s getting late, I should really take her home.”</p>
<p>“You could always stay the night, I’ll sleep on the couch if you take the bed with her.” Jughead suggested, he didn’t want her to leave so late at night.</p>
<p>“I would, but we don’t have any clean clothes.” She said before standing up, “don’t pout” Lydia teased him before kissing him again. She moaned into the kiss as she felt him grope at her body, she didn’t want him to stop but knew she had to leave before it got too late.</p>
<p>Jughead waited until he couldn’t see Lydia’s car before he closed the door behind him, he went to the fridge to pull out a beer when he heard the door opening again. Grinning he spun round expecting to see Lydia and a sleeping Sophia, instead he saw Veronica. <em> What the fuck.</em>

“Get out” was all he said before sitting down holding his beer, “seriously Veronica fuck off.” He thought she was going to leave when he saw her open the trailer door, instead she was just letting Betty in.</p>
<p>Jughead groaned rolling his eyes, why wouldn’t they just leave? He wished Lydia was still with him even more, because he now realized they were waiting on her leaving to come over. He thought it was sad they had probably wasted hours for him to be alone, thinking about it made him slightly nervous. Before either of them had a chance to say anything sent a text to Archie asking if he knew about this ambush, and one to his group chat with his friends.</p>
<p>“That’s a cute picture Jug.” Betty said looking at his fridge, it was a picture Sophia had drawn for him earlier. Flowers surrounded by sunshine and love hearts, he thought it was adorable how proud the young girl looked after she had drawn it for him.</p>
<p>“Thanks.” He said bluntly, he looked between the two women. Betty had her usual cheery smile on her face, while Veronica was looking his belongings up and down.</p>
<p>“Betty and Archie both told me I was to say sorry, apparently I made some unfair comments.” Veronica said running her fingers along his window ledge, inspecting her finger to see if any dust was on it.</p>
<p>“Ok. You’ve done it, now leave!” He was growing increasing impatient. Jughead didn’t know why he was so angry. “Betty” He said now turning to face his ex, “why are you here?”.</p>
<p>The blonde looked nervously between him and Veronica who was nodding her head and smirking, whatever this was wasn’t good.</p>
<p>“We...I need a favor” she asked sweetly. “My mum was talking to your dad and...”</p>
<p>“No, get out!” he said slamming his beer down before standing up. “Let me guess, you want me to tell you everything that happened with the ghoulies so you can write about it for your work?” Betty never answered but by the look on her face, Jughead knew he was right. “My dad warned me your mum would be around soon to pester us again , but I never thought you would. Just go, and if you ever need to come back don’t bring her.” Jughead said glaring at Veronica. </p>
<p>
  <strong> FP’s house</strong>
</p>
<p>“Well this is awkward.” Veronica moaned. She was currently sleeping on a sleeping bag on Jughead’s old bedroom floor, while Betty was sleeping on the single bed. When Alice claimed to have plenty of space for both of them to stay the night, this wasn’t what she had in mind.</p>
<p>“I know V, things with Jug went worse than I thought. He didn’t even give me a chance to explain.” Betty sighed. She was disappointed that he kicked them out, obviously her mother yelled about it while FP rolled his eyes before heading off for a night shift.</p>
<p>The blonde found it uncomfortable being back in that house, but didn’t want to offend her mom by not staying. She knew FP had never forgiven her for cheating on Jughead, he was just being polite. Jellybean on the other hand wasn’t, she had chosen to ignore her. Only ever speaking to her if it was vital.</p>
<p>“Well what did you expect? Did you really expect him to discuss anything with the serpents with you?” Veronica asked rolling her eyes. Jughead had frozen her friend out of that part of his life, truthfully it hurt Veronica’s pride to even think she understood why. It hurt her so much when she found out about Archie and Betty, but she had forgiven them over time. Jughead Jones just wanted to remain stuck in the past and bitter.</p>
<p>“Not really. I just really need a good story, I’m worried if I don’t get one soon I will get fired V.” Betty confessed. Her work was going good up until a few months ago, her department was struggling to find good real life crimes to write about. Having an exclusive to a story that includes gang rivals, murder, and false imprisonment would secure her job. She would be her bosses favorite for sure, but it wasn’t fair to expect so much of her ex.</p>
<p>“Well if we can’t use that story, we will just need to find another one.” Veronica said with a mischievous smile on her face.</p>
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